Assemblies of inter-linked pre-fabricated members for forming a path

ABSTRACT

An assembly for covering a strip of ground to provide a temporary or emergency path is disclosed. The assembly comprises a number of pre-fabricated members which are, preferably, flexibly interlinked by means of wire ropes on which the members are threaded. The flexibility of the wire ropes enables the assembly to be rolled up and unrolled and, when the assembly is unrolled over a strip of ground, the pre-fabricated members are maintained in mutually adjacent relationship by the wire ropes and are so shaped as to substantially cover the whole strip. The members have portions adapted to penetrate the ground so as to provide stability and other portions which provide a substantially uniform surface of a path. The soil or mud on which the assembly is laid is prevented from penetrating through the assembly and coiling the surface of the path.

United States Patent Domnick [151 3,685,403 [451 Aug. 22, 1972 [54]ASSEMBLIES OF INTER-LINKED PRE- FABRICATED MEMBERS FOR FOREIGN PATENTSOR APPLICATIONS FORNHNG A PATH 562,188 6/1944 Great Britain ..94/11 [72]Inventor: Arno Domnick, 7 Biener Strasse, Primary Examiner-Jacob L.Nackenofi 4451 Holthausen, Germany Attgrney- Arthur Klein 22 Filed: Feb.26, 1970 ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 14,328

An assembly for covering a strip of ground to provide a temporary oremergency path is disclosed. The as- [30] Forelgn Apphcamn Pnomy Datasembly comprises a number of pre-fabricated mem- Feb. 28, 1969 Germany..P 19 10 213.7 bers which p y, i y i e inked by Aug. 13, 1969 Germany..P 19 44 1326 means of wire ropes on which the members are threaded.The flexibility of the wire ropes enables the [52] US. Cl. ..94/13,52/588, 238/14 assembly to be rolled up and unrolled and, when the [51]Int. Cl, ..E0lc 5/00 assembly is unrolled over a strip of ground, thField fabricated members are maintained in mutually ad- 14 jacentrelationship by the wire ropes and are so shaped as to substantiallycover the whole strip. The References Clted members have portionsadapted to penetrate the UNITED STATES PATENTS ground so as to providestability and other portions which provlde a substantially uniformsurface of a Wlnte The oil or mud on the assembly is is t X 3,080,021 3/1963 Muir ..52/584 X coiling the Surface f the path 3,368,315 2/1968Thurnau ..52/588 3,385,183 5/1968 Kortz ..94/13 18 Claims, 3 DrawingFigures 7 7 1 I 1 i/ 1 4 f /1l L/ 2 5 j 7 4 A 5 3 6 6 A 4 A -A PATENTEDM1822 ma SHEET 1 BF 2 lnventbr:

Arno DOM/V/(K m am Y Attorn ev PATENTEBwszz m2 Inventor: Ar'no DOM/V/(Kb M (7. w

Aftormev ASSEMBLIES OF INTER-LINKED PRE- FABRICATED MEMBERS FOR FORMINGA PATH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates toassemblies of interlinked pre-fabricated members for forming a pathcovering a strip of ground. Such a path may find use as a temporary roadsurface or as an emergency diversion route when road works are inprogress.

Other applications of such paths may occur on building constructionsites and farm yards.

It has been proposed to provide sheets of open mesh track to form, whenlaid down across a strip of ground, a path to facilitate the passage ofvehicles across muddy or loose surfaces. A disadvantage of paths formedby such known tracks is that the strip of ground on which the open meshis laid is not completely covered and hence the mud or loose material onwhich such mesh tracks are laid tends to penetrate the mesh and,consequently, the path rapidly becomes dirty and its efficaciousnessdiminishes.

Further, known tracks formed of open mesh or of similar open forms ofconstruction provide only an uneven surface over which, because of itsirregularity, vehicles can proceed only slowly. Such and other knowntracks are formed of members which merely lie on the surface of theground and are consequently prone to be displaced by vehicles passingover them.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an interlinkedassembly of pre-fabricated members of only one or two basic forms ofconstruction for forming a path which substantially covers the strip ofground on which it is laid. The members are each provided with portionstending to penetrate the surface on which they rest to improve thepositional stability of the path and with other portions which mayeasily be arranged to provide an even surface over which vehicles maytravel at considerable speed. Thus, the disadvantages of known trackarrangements which have been referred to in the preceding paragraphs aresubstantially reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there isprovided an assembly for covering a strip of ground to provide a path,the assembly comprising a plurality of prefabricated members, flexiblemeans so interlinking the members as to enable the assembly to be rolledup and unrolled, the members being maintained in mutually adjacentrelationship by the flexible means to provide, when the assembly isunrolled over a strip of ground, a substantially continuous cover overthe strip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the present inventionwill now be more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross-sectional view in perspective of twoadjacently disposed pre-fabricated members of an assembly embodying theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a representation similar to FIG. 1 with a modifiedconstruction of the assembly; and

FIG. 3 shows a representation perspective of three prefabricated membersof another assembly embodying the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. I, the members 1 each include achannel-shaped portion of approximately U-shaped cross-section, which iscomposed of downwardly pointing legs 2 and 3 and an approximately planarsheet portion 4 connecting these legs 2 and 3. The members 1 areflexibly interlinked by means of wire ropes 5, indicated in FIG. 1.

These members 1 are maintained on the wire ropes 5 predetermineddistances relative to each other by conventional means such as forexample disclosed in French Pat. No. 866,878, and German publishedutility model No. 1,976,650. When unrolled over a strip of ground, theyform a path substantially covering the whole of the strip. The width ofthe path is defined by the length of each of the members in a directionperpendicular to that of the path. Each of the members 1 also comprisessubstantially horizontally projecting flange portion 7 and 8, which maybe welded on to the respective channel-shaped portion. The flangeportions 7 and 8 extend along the lengths of the members and cover thegaps 6 between adjacent members 1. In FIG. 1, each member 1 is providedwith flange portions 7 and 8 on both longitudinal sides, and each flangeportion covers approximately half the width of the adjacent gap 6 in adirection parallel to that of the path. In FIG. 1, the flange portions 7and 8 lie in the plane of the sheet portion 4 of the members 1. However,the flange portions 7 and 8 may be slightly downwardly displaced out ofthe plane of the respective sheet portion 4, whereby an increase in thestability of the upper surface of the assembly forming the path may beobtained. In a modification of the member 1, instead of the widths ofthe projecting flange portions 7 and 8 of successive members being equalto each other, they may be of an altematingly different lengths providedthe projecting flange portions of adjacently disposed memberssubstantially cover the area of each gap 6 between respectively adjacentmembers.

In FIG. 1, the flange portions of adjacent members 1 closely adjoin orabut against each other. However, theprojecting flange facing flangeportions of two adjacent members overlap each other when the assembly isunrolled to form the path. The projecting flange portions covering eachgap may be altematingly arranged at difierent levels.

In FIG. 2, each member 1 is provided with only one flange portion 9projecting along one longitudinal side of the respective channel-shapedportion of the member 1. Each flange portion 9 projects over at leastthe whole of the corresponding gap 6. The width of each flange portion 9exceeds, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the width of the correspondinggap 6; hence the outer end of each flange portion rests on therespectively adjacent member 1. In this case, each member 1 ispreferably provided on the upper surface formed by the sheet portion 4with a recess 4", which in turn forms the support for the overlappingend of the flange portion 9 of the respectively adjacent member 1'. Thewidth of each recess 4" is preferably somewhat greater than the width ofthe overlapping portion of the flange portion 9, so as to facilitate therolling-up of the assembly. The form of construction shown in FIG. 2proportions may be so constructed, that vides the additional advantageof greatly reducing the tendency of a member 1' to tilt due to theflange portions being unevenly loaded along their length.

In FIG. 1, the members 1 are shown to be welded to the correspondingprojecting flange portions 7 and 8 whilst in FIG. 2, the members 1 areshown to be integral units bent into shape so as to provide flangeportions 9. It is to be understood, that the members 1 of FIG. 1 mayalternatively be constructed as integral units bent into shape;similarly, the members 1' of FIG. 2 may alternatively be of weldedconstruction.

It furthermore is to be understood, that numerous modifications arepossible in the formation of the profile of the members forming theassembly. Thus, for example, the projecting flange portions may bearranged along the lower edges of the downwardly pointing U-legs 2 and3; such a profile is particularly simple to form by constructing theprojecting flange portions as bent flanges, whereby a somewhathat-shaped profile results.

Such a form of construction may be particularly advantageous in certaincases and is represented in FIG. 3. Again, the individual members 10comprise a downwardly open channel-shaped profile of approximatelyU-shaped cross-secton, which is composed of downwardly pointing legs 12and 13 and an approximately planar sheet portion 14 connecting theselegs 12 and 13. The members 10 are flexibly interlinked by wire ropes15, or in any other suitable manner, to define gaps 16 between adjacentones of the members 10.

The gap 16 between two adjacent members 10 is covered over by projectingflange portions 17 and 18 which extend over the length of theirrespective members l0, i.e., over the width of the path. In FIG. 3, theflange portions 17 and 18 are formed as folded flanges and are locatedat the longitudinal lower edges of the downwardly pointing U-legs 12 and13. Thus, the members 10 exhibit a somewhat hat-shaped cross-sectionalprofile.

Advantageously, the flange portions 17 and 18 are so arranged that asillustrated in the example represented in FIG. 3 of the drawing theydefine with the respective one of the downwardly pointing U- legs 12 and13 an angle a of more than 90. Thus, an edge 19 is provided in themiddle of the gap 16, where the flange portions 17 and 18 of adjacentmembers 10 are close to or abut each other. This edge 19 promotespenetration into some kinds of soil or sub-strates and tends tostabilize the laid assembly against accidental displacement of the path.This form of construction also facilitates penetration of certain kindsof soil into the U-profile of the channel-shaped portions of the members10 forming the assembly.

In a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the downwardlypointing U-legs 12 and 13 are not mutually parallel but diverge towardstheir lower extremities, thereby causing the channel of the members 10to be of trapezoidal cross-section. This construction promotes looseningof the soil pressed into the channelshaped profile when the assembly isrolled up. In this modified arrangement, the flange portions 17 and 18may as already described be arranged'either to project perpendicularlyof the legs 12 and 13 or to define an angle a of more than 90 to legs 12and l3.

Although the invention is illustrated and described with reference to aplurality of preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be expresslyunderstood that it is in no way limited to the disclosure of such aplurality of embodiments, but is capable of numerous modificationswithin the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. As assembly, for covering a strip of ground to provide a path,comprising in combination:

a plurality of pre-fabricated members,

flexible means interlinking said members to enable said assembly to berolled up and unrolled in a predetermined direction, said members beingmaintained in mutually adjacent relationshipv by said flexible means toprovide, when said assembly is unrolled over a strip of ground, asubstantially continuous cover over said strip,

each of said members comprising a channel-shaped portion and at leastone flange portion projecting from the respective channel-shapedportion, said channel-shaped portions of respective ones of said membersbeing mutually spaced apart along saidflexible means to define gapstherebetween and said flange portions extending across the length ofsaid strip and substantially covering said gaps between adjacent ones ofsaid channel-shaped portions.

2. An assemblyas defined in claim 1, wherein said flange portionsproject from either side of each of said channel-shaped portions andeach said flange portions covers substantially half said gap betweenadjacent ones of said channel-shaped portions.

3. An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of saidchannel-shaped portions comprises a sheet portion adapted to form partof the upper surface of said cover when said assembly is unrolled, andeach flange portion projects at substantially the same level as thesheet portion of the respective one of said channel-shaped portions.

4. An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein when said assembly isunrolled said flange portions of. adjacent ones of said channel-shapedportions abut against one another.

5. An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said memberscomprises only one of said projecting flange portions, each said oneflange portion projecting from one side of the respective one of saidchannelshaped portions and extending over substantially the area of saidgap between adjacent ones of said channelshaped portions.

6. An assembly as defined in claim 5, wherein each said channel-shapedportion comprises a sheet portion adapted to form part of the uppersurface of said cover when said assembly is unrolled and each said oneprojecting flange portion at least partially overlaps said sheet portionof the next adjacent one of said channelshaped portions.

7. An assembly as defined in claim 6, wherein the upper surface of saidsheet portion of each said channel-shaped portion is disposed below theupper surface of the flange portion projecting from the respectivechannel-shaped portion to define a recess to accommodate the overlappingflange portion of the next adjacent channel-shaped portion.

8. An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said memberscomprises a channel-shaped portion and at least one flange portionwelded to the respective channel-shaped portion.

9. An assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said memberscomprises a channel-shaped portion and at least one flange portionintegral with the respective channel-shaped portion.

10. An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of saidchannel-shaped portions is of a substantially U- shaped cross-section.

11. An assembly as defined in claim 10, wherein when said assembly isunrolled, transverse portions of said channel-shaped portions ofsubstantially U-shaped cross-section are disposed uppermostto form saidsheet portions, and leg portion of said channel-shaped portions extenddownwardly from either side of the respective sheet portion. v

12. An assembly as defined in claim 11, wherein said I flange portionsproject from the lower extremities of said leg portions and on eitherside of the substantially U-shapedcross-section of the channel-shapedportions, each said projecting flange portion covering substantiallyhalf the gap between adjacent ones of said channel-shaped portions.

13. An assembly as defined in claim 12, wherein each flange portion isintegral with said channel-shaped portion of the respective one of saidmembers.

14. An assembly as defined in claim 12, wherein an obtuse angle isdefined between the downwardly extending leg portion and flange portionprojecting from the lower extremity thereof.

15. An assembly as defined in claim 12, wherein said downwardlyextending leg portions diverge towards their respective lowerextremities.

16. An assembly for covering a strip of ground to provide a path,comprising in combination:

a plurality of pre-fabricated pieced consisting of bar grates adapted tobe wound and unwound, the bar gates being connected by a plurality ofparallel flexible members and being maintained in position thereontransversely to the direction of winding thereof, the bar grates whenunrolled and assembled on the ground presenting a plurality of paralleltransversely extending vertical webs, and means connected to the webssubstantially bridging the gaps between successive webs.

17. An assembly for covering a strip of ground according to claim 16,wherein the means substantially bridging the gap between successivevertical webs comprise substantially horizontally disposed membersintegrally attached to the upper edges of the webs.

18. An assembly for covering a strip of ground according to claim 16,wherein the means substantially bridging the gap between successivevertical webs comprises flanges secured to the bottom edges ofsuccessive webs and extending respectively forwardly and rearwardly ofsuccessive webs so that their free edges closely confront each other.

1. An assembly, for covering a strip of ground to provide a path,comprising in combination: a plurality of pre-fabricated members,flexible means interlinking said members to enable said assembly to berolled up and unrolled in a predetermined direction, said members beingmaintained in mutually adjacent relationship by said flexible means toprovide, when said assembly is unrolled over a strip of ground, asubstantially Continuous cover over said strip, each of said memberscomprising a channel-shaped portion and at least one flange portionprojecting from the respective channel-shaped portion, saidchannel-shaped portions of respective ones of said members beingmutually spaced apart along said flexible means to define gapstherebetween and said flange portions extending across the length ofsaid strip and substantially covering said gaps between adjacent ones ofsaid channel-shaped portions.
 2. An assembly as defined in claim 1,wherein said flange portions project from either side of each of saidchannel-shaped portions and each said flange portion coverssubstantially half said gap between adjacent ones of said channel-shapedportions.
 3. An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of saidchannel-shaped portions comprises a sheet portion adapted to form partof the upper surface of said cover when said assembly is unrolled, andeach flange portion projects at substantially the same level as thesheet portion of the respective one of said channel-shaped portions. 4.An assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein when said assembly isunrolled said flange portions of adjacent ones of said channel-shapedportions abut against one another.
 5. An assembly as defined in claim 1,wherein each of said members comprises only one of said projectingflange portions, each said one flange portion projecting from one sideof the respective one of said channel-shaped portions and extending oversubstantially the area of said gap between adjacent ones of saidchannel-shaped portions.
 6. An assembly as defined in claim 5, whereineach said channel-shaped portion comprises a sheet portion adapted toform part of the upper surface of said cover when said assembly isunrolled and each said one projecting flange portion at least partiallyoverlaps said sheet portion of the next adjacent one of saidchannel-shaped portions.
 7. An assembly as defined in claim 6, whereinthe upper surface of said sheet portion of each said channel-shapedportion is disposed below the upper surface of the flange portionprojecting from the respective channel-shaped portion to define a recessto accommodate the overlapping flange portion of the next adjacentchannel-shaped portion.
 8. An assembly as defined in claim 1, whereineach of said members comprises a channel-shaped portion and at least oneflange portion welded to the respective channel-shaped portion.
 9. Anassembly as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said members comprises achannel-shaped portion and at least one flange portion integral with therespective channel-shaped portion.
 10. An assembly as defined in claim1, wherein each of said channel-shaped portions is of a substantiallyU-shaped cross-section.
 11. An assembly as defined in claim 10, whereinwhen said assembly is unrolled, transverse portions of saidchannel-shaped portions of substantially U-shaped cross-section aredisposed uppermost to form said sheet portions, and leg portion of saidchannel-shaped portions extend downwardly from either side of therespective sheet portion.
 12. An assembly as defined in claim 11,wherein said flange portions project from the lower extremities of saidleg portions and on either side of the substantially U-shapedcross-section of the channel-shaped portions, each said projectingflange portion covering substantially half the gap between adjacent onesof said channel-shaped portions.
 13. An assembly as defined in claim 12,wherein each flange portion is integral with said channel-shaped portionof the respective one of said members.
 14. An assembly as defined inclaim 12, wherein an obtuse angle is defined between the downwardlyextending leg portion and the flange portion projecting from the lowerextremity thereof.
 15. An assembly as defined in claim 12, wherein saiddownwardly extending leg portions diverge towards their respective lowerextremities.
 16. An assembly for covering a strip of ground to provide apath, cOmprising in combination: a plurality of pre-fabricated piecedconsisting of bar grates adapted to be wound and unwound, the bar gatesbeing connected by a plurality of parallel flexible members and beingmaintained in position thereon transversely to the direction of windingthereof, the bar grates when unrolled and assembled on the groundpresenting a plurality of parallel transversely extending vertical webs,and means connected to the webs substantially bridging the gaps betweensuccessive webs.
 17. An assembly for covering a strip of groundaccording to claim 16, wherein the means substantially bridging the gapbetween successive vertical webs comprise substantially horizontallydisposed members integrally attached to the upper edges of the webs. 18.An assembly for covering a strip of ground according to claim 16,wherein the means substantially bridging the gap between successivevertical webs comprises flanges secured to the bottom edges ofsuccessive webs and extending respectively forwardly and rearwardly ofsuccessive webs so that their free edges closely confront each other.